


Stay Stay Stay

by starkpad



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Established Relationship, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-01-02
Packaged: 2018-03-04 21:16:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3090146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starkpad/pseuds/starkpad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He thinks of Steve and the night Steve said, “You know, Tony. Love doesn’t always have to be this mountain top experience.” It was at the stage of their relationship that Tony was still trying to buy love with money. “But it does need to be as constant as a mountain; never moving, always steady and willing to stay.” </p><p>He thinks of-  </p><p>“Hey!” Tony said a little too enthusiastic as Steve walked in their bedroom, still wearing his full football costume, his helmet in his hand. </p><p>“Hi. You wanted to talk?” </p><p>Breath. Breath. Breath. “You might want to sit down on this.” </p><p>Steve casts Tony a confused look but he complied. “Tony-“ </p><p>“No. Listen to me first.”</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay Stay Stay

Tony was at least 99.9% sure that he and Steve are going to break up.

Because, damn. Tony threw his _phone_ at Steve.

It was a regular thing for them to do – fighting – it wasn’t something new and spectacular, Tony couldn’t even remember what they were fighting about in the first place – probably something stupid, it was always something stupid – next thing he knew he was shouting, Steve was shouting and he was so _angry_ so he threw a phone.

At Steve.

The phone hit the floor with a thud, and the both of them look surprised by it.

“Steve, I’m-“

“Save it.” Steve said holding up a hand. 

Steve looked exhausted – between being a college student at SHEILD University, being captain of the football team _and_ having Tony as boyfriend – and he looked as if he was done for the next couple hundred years, to be exact.

“Baby-“

“Nope. Do not even try to ‘baby’ me.” Steve glared.

Tony winced.

_Shit. This is it. This is it. He’s going to leave for good because you’re such a dumbass oh my god. He’s going to turn away dramatically and then I’m going to lose it oh god-_

“What?” Tony asked gaping. He was far into his own mind that he didn’t even hear Steve speak.

Steve rolled his eyes. “I’m going to bed. You’re sleeping on the couch.”

“What?” Tony asked again. _Because what_.

“Stop acting like this is the first time you have to sleep on the couch, Ton-“

“You’re staying?”

Steve looked at Tony as if he was from another world. “I live here if you haven’t noticed, for 2 years to be exact.”

"You’re staying.” Tony muttered to himself, but he guessed Steve heard because his brows furrowed.

“I’m to tired and mad to say anything about how weird you are, Tony.” Steve finally said as they both stared at each other.

With that, Steve left while he muttered,“Goddamn Tony always making me crazy.”

Tony didn’t even bother picking the phone up.  

Tony just stood gaping in the middle kitchen, looking straight ahead as to where they shared their bedroom, the lights already turned off as he thought about equations and algorithms trying to find an answer as to _what just happened._

There wasn’t much Tony could do but sleep.

But then he tossed the idea of sleep in his mind because he realized there was no way he was going to sleep.

Firstly because he was sleeping on a couch, and no matter how expensive said couch is, he’d rather be next to his super sexy and perfect boyfriend in bed.

Which was not happening tonight.

He turned the living room TV on and off, fiddled with hands, tried to tear the TV apart and put it back together, hell, Tony even _cooked_ to get his mind off things and Tony is rarely left speechless but God, Steve is something else.

He stayed.

Tony was so so so confused. 

 

 

 

 

“ _You threw a phone at him_!?” Pepper exclaimed. She looked as if she was ready to kill Tony.

She probably could.

“I was pissed, okay!” Tony shrugged, feeling small. “I didn’t even think and next thing you knew my phone just bounced off his abs.”

“Have you at least had the decency to say sorry?”

Tony shrugged again. “I did. But he left before I was awake.”

Tony did sleep last night, on the couch and when he woke up he found out two things: his body was sore and that he was cuddled in a blanket that smelt like apple pie and freedom.

“You’re an idiot.”

“I know.”

“So why did you drag me up here?”

Tony bit his lip. Why did he drag Pepper to the nearest coffee shop? “He stayed, Pep. He stayed.”

“Uh?” Pepper said, tilting her head to the side.

“I thought he was going to leave and all that dramatic shit, because we can get pretty dramatic if we want to kind of like that time-“

“Get to the point, Tony.”

“Point is, I’m just not used to that!” Tony screamed, earning glares from the other customers.

Pepper took a sip from her mug, her lips a thin line before she said, “I see.”

 "And this is Steve we’re talking about, Pep. He carries my groceries for God’s sake and I just- he made me special, he didn’t have to, but he did and I don’t want him to leave.”

Pepper looks at Tony with a fond look on her face. “I think at this point, Tony, none of you are going to leave.”

Tony liked to think that was true. He like to think that Steve was so goddamn in love with Tony that he’s always going to stay, but hey, things don’t always go like we imagined it would be.

 

 

 

 

Tony threw his backpack on the floor as he slammed the door. His mind was as frantic as his body was as he paced around the surprisingly large dorm room that he shared with Steve.

 _We need to talk._ Tony texted to Steve.

Tony glanced at his watch, Steve would probably come in the next 30 minutes or so since he hasn’t finished football practice yet, which was great, that gave Tony time to think.

Tony opened the door to their bedroom and opened the drawer for socks.

A velvet box was tucked neatly below Tony’s rainbow socks.

He opened the box and there it was, the ring Tony has been keeping for a year, shining a gorgeous glow.

Vibranium, the rarest metal ever known to man. 

Tony sat at the edge of their bed, fiddling with the ring.

He thinks of all his past lovers, all self-indulgent takers who took all of their problems out on Tony.

He thinks of Steve, thinks of how Steve can always make Tony laugh even in the bad days. Tony knows it’s easy loving someone when they’re happy, what’s hard is loving someone when they’re crying on the bathroom floor at 2 A.M because everything came crashing down at once.

He thinks of Steve, thinks of how he stood up for all those people – even though they were twice as big as Steve – Tony thinks of high school and endless nights of loving Steve and only Steve.

He thinks of Howard as he remembers him saying, _“Go out and get a lover"._ Probably somebody with eyes like stingray, probably somebody that builds things, who would get bald by thirty and Tony badly wants to say “ _Oh but Dad, his eyes are better than poetry and I’m addicted to the way he sings in the shower and I’m fucking obsessed with how he’ll laugh while kissing me because he just thought of a joke he’s heard and he lets me cook dinner even when I burn it and when I curl next to him I finally feel like I home, and dad, our love is a running start and maybe he can’t fix a car but he sure as hell healed my heart.”_

He thinks of Steve and the night Steve said, _“You know, Tony. Love doesn’t always have to be this mountain top experience.”_ It was at the stage of their relationship that Tony was still trying to buy love with money. _“But it does need to be as constant as a mountain; never moving, always steady and willing to stay.”_

He thinks of- 

“Hey!” Tony said a little too enthusiastic as Steve walked in their bedroom, still wearing his full football costume, his helmet in his hand.

“Hi. You wanted to talk?” Steve asked, the anger in his voice yesterday was mostly gone by now.

 _Breath. Breath. Breath._ “You might want to sit down on this.”

Steve casts Tony a confused look but he complied. “Tony-“

“No. Listen to me first.”

Steve looked at Tony, probably wondering where he got hit because Tony’s been acting so _weird, “_ Go on.”

“I love you, Steve.”

“Uh, I love you too? Tony where are you going with this because-“

“No. Shush. Listen to me.” Tony took a deep breath before he said; “I’m so in love with you that there isn’t anything else.”

“Uhhh-“

“And I didn’t fall in love with you, I walked into love with you. Choosing to take every step of the way, choice that’s the thing. I wake up every single morning and choose you without a second thought and you- you choose to stay and goddamn I thought I was going to lose you yesterday but you stayed.”

“Tony.” Steve sighed; a fond look on his face like Tony’s the best thing in the world.

“See? And you get this kind of look in your eyes like I’m this great thing, like I’m not some fuck up and fuck Steve, I have a heart condition.”

Steve laughed at that. “Still don’t know where you’re going on this.”

“You took the time to memorize me and you moan my name beautifully.” Tony pointed a finger at Steve, hands frantic when he talks. “And who else is going to love me when I get mad? You think that it’s _funny_ when I get mad.”

“Tony-“

“You know I don’t want some mediocre love, I want to drown in someone-“ Tony took a deep breathe before continuing “And it’s you. It’s you for the last 6 years. Since the moment I met you. It’s you at 2 in the morning or 4 in the afternoon, it’s you when I’m sleeping and studying and eating and laughing. You are everywhere and you are everything.”

Tony thought to himself, _wow couldn’t believe I just said that._

“Tony?” Steve asked, an edge creeping into his voice like he knows where this is going but isn’t quite sure yet.

“I like hanging out with you. And um-“

Tony felt like he was suffocating, so he takes one last deep breathe and looks into Steve’s clear, soft blue eyes that are filled with so much love and _this is it_ , Tony thinks- “I’d like to hang out with you, for my whole life.”

“Oh my god.” Steve said, eyes blown wide as Tony knelt in front of him.

“Uh, marry me? Please? Otherwise this is so embarrassing I think I’m going to move somewhere if you say no-“

“Yeah. Yes, Tony. Oh my god.” Steve said, frantic as he pulled Tony back to his feet, kissing him with every inch of love and life.

“Okay, okay, best day of my life.” Tony laughed, running his fingers through Steve’s hair as they kissed in between words.  “You’re staying then?”

“Yeah, Tony. I’m staying.”

“Good. Because you know what they say.” Tony said, stroking Steve’s cheek.

Steve’s smiling so hard it hurts, “What do they say, Tony?”

“You should marry someone you want to annoy for the rest of your life.”

Steve laughed at that and Tony has never heard anything more beautiful. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> hugely inspired by the tons of lovely poetry on tumblr and also miss taylor swift's song "stay stay stay". 
> 
> (because i am a moron and i do not know how to put a link here) you can find more of me on my tumblr 
> 
> starkpad.tumblr.com


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